Anger Management
by Danym
Summary: Sometimes, feelings have to get out. Response to the Unbound Challenge.


Anger Management

By Dany

Summary: Sometimes, feelings have to get out.

A/N: Response to the Unbound Challenge. I don't know what got into me, but this is a bit "angrier" than usual.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI and its characters. If I did it would go like this:

xxxxx

"I got paint all over me!" Catherine yelled, giving Sara a death glare.

But she was only met with an equally hot gaze. "Hey, it's not my fault. I asked you to leave."

Sara's temper was rising and although her mind told her to let it go, she already knew she wouldn't. All of the built up frustration over another argument was just itching to get out.

"You hit the damn thing. Of course it is your fault!"

They were drawing a crowd and soon Warrick and Nick had to fight their way through to see what held their attention.

When they saw Catherine covered in red paint, they started to chuckle until they were on the receiving end of her glare. Covering their mouths, they tried to suppress their laughter, but they weren't very successful.

"I told you to leave, but you wanted to _talk_," Sara yelled back, giving the last word a detesting undertone, "and I had to get this done. So… not my problem."

The others wondered where this hostility came from, for they thought that Sara and Catherine had set their differences aside. Obviously not.

"You…" And with that Catherine stormed out, the others stepping away to avoid getting 'painted'.

Nick was about to go in and ask Sara what happened, while Warrick wanted to go after Catherine. Before they could, they heard a familiar voice calling, "Show's over," and everyone hurried away.

The two younger CSIs looked at each other, then at Sara, who had something of frightening intensity in her eyes, and finally at Grissom, whose face was tightly set, not showing any emotion. Seeing this, they reached the decision that it would be better if they left as well.

When Grissom was convinced that they were alone, he stepped into the lab and closed the door. He wished they were not surrounded by glass walls, but he had no choice. Sara had gone too far.

"Okay, let me have it." Grissom wanted to get over with it, having a good idea what had brought this on. It had been building up for a while, but the drop that made her run over was the fact that he tried to take her off a case and passed it on to Catherine because he felt that Sara was becoming too involved.

'Tried' being the operative word here.

Obviously, Sara was still working on the case and had _given_ Catherine her piece.

"You can let off your steam on poor Ernest here, but it won't solve anything." But he only got a stare as response.

"Fine, you can go home for the remainder of the shift," he said while turning to leave.

The sound of 'Ernest' being hit again echoed through the lab. At least he got some reaction.

Turning back to face her, he thought he saw the beginning of tears, but couldn't be sure.

"I don't want to say, I hate you." Sara was whispering, sinking down to the floor.

Her simple sentence hit him hard and he didn't know how to respond. "Why not?" was the only thing that came to his mind.

"Because I could never hate you."

Relief flooded him, closely followed by regrets that it had come that far.

However, Sara was not finished. "But if I could, I would have all the reason by now. The question is, will you let this continue? I don't want to be in that state where I almost hate you."

Her voice dropped even lower, and when it was barely audible, she added, "Don't make me."

Grissom took his time, thinking hard about her words. He had distanced himself, thinking it would be better for both of them. But now he had been rudely awakened to reality, to the extent of the damage.

The question was, what to do now? How to react?

He never wanted to hurt her… "Noted."

Her eyes showed him that she was not satisfied with his response.

"You can finish the case," this was territory he was familiar with, "but please, be careful."

Sara was still confused – and angry – so she nodded, waiting for him to continue, wanting him to give her something more.

"Sara," Grissom hesitated, not knowing if this was the right thing to do, "I don't want you to hate me."

Something in her eyes flickered, a slight glint of hope shining through.

"Could you please come and see me before you leave? I want to try and 'backtrack'."

She nodded tightly, and before he could make things worse, he retreated quickly.

xxxxx

The others had watched the confrontation from across the hall, hidden by a door.

Even Catherine had come back to see what was happening. She knew Sara was not upset with her, but they would have to talk about it later.

They had not heard the exchanged words, only seeing the serious expressions.

And things did not look good.

"This is not going well," Catherine sighed.

Warrick only shook his head and Nick hung his. "The storm looks like it's settling in."

The End

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